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Busy

1/27/2014

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I am unemployed and not actively seeking employment. 

I am a stay at home person. I'm not a mom, but I stay at home (mostly because we only have one car).

People often say to me, "I couldn't do that, I'd go crazy! What do you do all day?" I've mentioned this before. You know, I often wonder that myself. What do I do all day?

Whatever I want. 

I finally have the time to do all of the things I've always wanted to learn how to do. I finally have the time to invest in the hobbies I actually enjoy doing. When you get down to it, I am actually quite busy. 

I have a cooking blog that I research and experiment for. Cooking takes up a large portion of my time, and I enjoy it. I spend a lot of time researching gardening methods and learning about which plants grow where under what conditions and how to save seeds. I implement my ideas and sometimes they work... and sometimes they don't. I've been learning how to forage for plants and use herbs in medicinal ways (I still need a lot more experience in this category). I am learning about all the different ways to compost and what would be most effective for us. I'm helping plan a trip to Scotland. I'm editing pictures (a huge amount of time is required for this, but I really enjoy it). I am scanning photos and editing old pictures as digital copies for my family. I spend as much time as possible outside with the dog.  I sew and knit when I can manage to find the time and have all of my craft stuff set up.

So, I have lots of stuff that I do, but I also have a very flexible schedule. I can hang out with friends at a moment's notice (if transportation is arranged or I have the car). I rather enjoy it. I just really wish people would stop assuming that, since I don't have a job, that I sit around the house and watch TV all day. I get a lot done. I am a surprisingly busy person. As I am writing this, I have a stack of notebooks sitting next to me, waiting for me to fill their pages with research. Two for Scotland, one for permaculture, one for recipes, and one for plants... so many empty pages... so much information to discover. It is a good life. 
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Pumpkin Pie From Scratch

10/24/2011

1 Comment

 
I've always wondered how to make a pumpkin pie from an actual pumpkin. This year I decided to find out. 

I like to consider myself a rather inventive person. The first time around (I'll show you pictures) I managed with no electricity except for the microwave (to cook the pumpkin). The second time around (I bought two pumpkins and needed to use the second one) I used no electricity at all except for lights, but I probably could have used candles just as well. 

I used the instructions from this site: http://www.pickyourown.org/pumpkinpie.php
Don't judge a book by its font. The Comic Sans was hard to get past, but there was a lot of good information on the site. 

I'll just quick sum up what I did. 

  1. I cut the pumpkin in half and gutted it (keeping the seeds to be roasted later).
  2. I steamed the pumpkin until it basically just fell off the skin.
  3. During the time the pumpkin was steaming, I made the dough for the crust using the recipe from the same site: http://www.pickyourown.org/piecrust.php
  4. This is the part where a normal person would use a blender or a food processor. I have neither of those things, so I used a strainer and a rubber spatula and pressed the pumpkin through the strainer to break up all the stringy bits. 
  5. I mixed the pumpkin puree in with assorted spices etc
  6. Put the crust in the pan, put the mix in the crust and popped it in the oven. 

Also, I substituted coconut oil for shortening and used Splenda instead of sugar. 

I make it sound so easy. Before I show you pictures, let me tell you why it wasn't. 

The pumpkin the first time around was steamed in the microwave. It took 15 minutes for half the pumpkin. After those 15 minutes, the mic overheated and ceased to work for about a half an hour. It ended up overheating twice. 

The pumpkin the second time around was steamed in the oven. It took an hour and a half. So both methods basically cost the same amount of time. 

Not having a hand blender and using the method in step 4, it took me a ridiculous amount of time. It worked though, so I'm not complaining. 

The recipe was delicious, but I had so much mix left over that I ended up making:
1 Pie
6 Mini-pies
2 Loaves of bread

Okay, now for pictures! Check out my Pumpkin Pie from Scratch Gallery and marvel at the amount of effort and awesome that happened!
1 Comment

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